this is bbc news. the uk and germany issue a joint call for a "sustainable ceasefire" in gaza, but prime minister netanyahu insists israel will "fight to the end" to eliminate hamas. the world health organization describes the emergency department of gaza's al shifa hospital as a "bloodbath" — after delivering crucial medical supplies. we saw children with open wounds on theirfaces. we we saw children with open wounds on their faces. we saw a baby with jaundice. we saw many adults with injuries from what appeared to be blast injuries. conservative peer baroness mone admits she stands to benefit from £60 million of profit from personal protective equipment sold to the government during the pandemic.

i wasn't trying to pull the wool over anyone�*s eyes, and i regret, and i am sorry, for not saying straight out, yes i am involved. i will be representing the uk at the eurovision song contest! pop star and actor olly alexander is announced as the united kingdom's entry for next year's eurovision song contest. hello, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. britain and germany are calling for an urgent sustainable ceasefire in gaza. last week both countries abstained on a united nations resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire. but in a change of tone which echoes a shift in the us, the foreign ministers of both countries say too many civilians have been killed in israel's war against hamas and the sooner a truce comes the better. france meanwhile has also called for an immediate and durable ceasefire. israel's prime minister benjamin netanyahu has strongly

reiterated his opposition to a ceasefire. speaking before a cabinet meeting, he insisted they will fight till the end to eliminate hamas — which many countries consider a terror group. israel stepped up its bombardment of gaza overnight and into sunday, reportedly killing at least a0 people. gaza's health ministry says almost 19,000 palestinians have now been killed since israel started bombing gaza in october. these pictures looking into gaza from israel, show large plumes of smoke burning, with many damaged buildings in sight. communications are down for a fourth day, making it hard to reach the wounded. in a sign of the growing desperation aid trucks entering gaza through the rafah crossing have been boarded and stripped of their supplies. the un says hungry people are helping themselves to food, making it almost impossible to distribute aid. but the kerem shalom crossing

between israel and gaza has opened for aid trucks, for the first time since the war began. it's hoped 200 aid lorries a day will now be able to access the strip. and health officials in the occupied west bank say israeli forces have killed at least five palestinians during a raid on a refugee camp. israel's military says it carried out air strikes near the city of tulakrem after its soldiers came underfire. nearly 300 palestinians have been killed in the west bank since october 7th. meanwhile, the funeral for one of the three hostages killed by israeli troops has been held in israel. the idf says alon shamriz — along with the two other hostages — was "mistakenly identified as a threat" in the shejaiya district of gaza city — despite all three being shirtless and waving white flags. in a statement, the idf expressed its deep remorse over the incident, which is now under investigation, and sent the families of those killed its condolences.

live now to israela 0ron, a retired general who spent almost 30 years in the israel defense forces. thank you very much forjoining us here _ thank you very much forjoining us here in_ thank you very much forjoining us here in bbc— thank you very much forjoining us here in bbc news. you thank you very much for “oining us here in bbc news._ thank you very much for “oining us here in bbc news. you have served on the national — here in bbc news. you have served on the national security _ here in bbc news. you have served on the national security council— here in bbc news. you have served on the national security council in - the national security council in israel. if you are serving now under prime minister netanyahu, what would you be saying to him now? i prime minister netanyahu, what would you be saying to him now?— you be saying to him now? i believe his first responsibility _ you be saying to him now? i believe his first responsibility is _ you be saying to him now? i believe his first responsibility is to - you be saying to him now? i believe his first responsibility is to tell - his first responsibility is to tell the military, the idf, what is the endgame. what does he want to become in gaza and the relationship between us and gaza, after the intensive phase of the war comes to an end? i think this is something that is not clear, not to the idf, and unfortunately, not to the rest of

the world. right now we know what our prime minister doesn't want to do. he doesn't want the palestinian authority to take part in liberating gaza. he doesn't want... this is implied, he doesn't want a palestinian state because he is saying that, if his opponent runs for office and is elected, he will agree to a palestinian state which is, in the eyes of our prime minister, benjamin netanyahu, a disaster. we know what he doesn't want. unfortunately we don't know what he does want, as a result of the fighting in gaza.— what he does want, as a result of the fighting in gaza. what he might sa is that the fighting in gaza. what he might say is that he _ the fighting in gaza. what he might say is that he has _ the fighting in gaza. what he might say is that he has been _ the fighting in gaza. what he might say is that he has been quite - the fighting in gaza. what he might say is that he has been quite clear. | say is that he has been quite clear. his aim is to eliminate hamas. i must say that i don't disagree with him on this point, because after

october the 7th, we realised that the threat of hamas to destroy the state of israel, it is a very serious threat, not to mention the fact that the only targets of hamas, and the goal, is to kill as many jews as they can. the idea of living side by side with hamas, right now, for the citizens of israel, including myself, is not a very cheerful idea. hamas has to go. i mean the leaders of hamas, the military leaders in the political leaders of hamas cannot stay there. they have an option, by the way. i was hearing the previous report about the humanitarian crisis in gaza, which is really devastating. however hamas can put an end to it. first of all, they can say that they

release the hostages. i didn't hear them saying this.— release the hostages. i didn't hear them saying this. yesterday we were heard from families _ them saying this. yesterday we were heard from families of _ them saying this. yesterday we were heard from families of some - them saying this. yesterday we were heard from families of some of- them saying this. yesterday we were | heard from families of some of those being held hostage, who were fairly critical of benjamin netanyahu, and they say he should get straight back to the negotiating table, because it was negotiations that secured in that temporary ceasefire, the release of some 70 or so hostages, and that this continued bombardment is not achieving that goal. it is alwa s is not achieving that goal. it is always the _ is not achieving that goal. it is always the question, - is not achieving that goal. it 3 always the question, who is responsible and who started it, and again the chicken. i do support resuming the negotiation with hamas, with regard to releasing hostages. i believe this is the responsibility of any government and specifically of any government and specifically of this government of israel, which is responsible to what happened on october seven. they need to do

0ctober seven. they need to do everything they can, including right now, negotiation with hamas, to release the hostages. we are talking about innocent people, we are talking about civilians, and we are talking about civilians, and we are talking about civilians, and we are talking about young israeli women that are in other danger there. this is very important, that negotiation will be resumed and we try to get to some kind of dealfor those people who are really in danger will be released. this who are really in danger will be released. ~ , ., ., who are really in danger will be released. a ., ., , released. as someone who has been with the idf — released. as someone who has been with the w in _ released. as someone who has been with the idf in the _ released. as someone who has been with the idf in the past _ released. as someone who has been with the idf in the past as _ released. as someone who has been with the idf in the past as well, - released. as someone who has been with the idf in the past as well, i - with the idf in the past as well, i wanted to get your reaction to the killing of these three hostages. there is an investigation now, but we have heard from the idf that it broke israel's rules of engagement. since the investigation is not done

yet i don't exactly know what happened. there are all kinds of rumours that the force that killed them was far away, that they didn't obey the rules of engagement and that the hostages were shouting at them in hebrew. i don't know exactly what happened, but one should take into account, in this condensed area, with very challenging fighting issues, this is almost impossible that people from our side will not be killed. i'm talking about soldiers, and sometimes hostages, because we don't have a full picture of what is going on and we don't know exactly what can happen. this

is some risk that one should take when we are operating in this kind of area. ., ., , , of area. retired general who spent more than 30 _ of area. retired general who spent more than 30 years _ of area. retired general who spent more than 30 years in _ of area. retired general who spent more than 30 years in the - of area. retired general who spent more than 30 years in the israel. more than 30 years in the israel defence forces, thank you very much for sharing your insight and perspective on the story. the world health organization says it has been able to deliver crucial medical supplies to gaza's al—shifa hospital which has been working under much reduced capacity following israel's military offensive. the organisation said the team supplied medicines, surgical and other medical equipment to the hospital which it said was "currently minimally functional". one member of who staff posted this update from the hospital. it's completely overwhelmed with patients. very few staff remaining. as we've been here for the last 30 minutes, there's been a nonstop stream of injured people coming in on trolleys, on donkey carts, on stretchers being pushed down the road. there are almost no medical staff here.

this largest referral hospital here in gaza has become a trauma stabilisation point. they can only provide the most basic care for people with very serious injuries and very serious illnesses. and sean casey, who you saw there, spoke to me earlier. he's the emergency medical teams coordinator at the world health organization, and has just returned from the al—shifa hospital in gaza. this was our first mission to al—shifa hospital in the last three weeks and we didn't know what we would find. we arrived and found a hospital that we weren't sure was functioning, that was completely overwhelmed with hundreds of patients, caregivers, thousands of people in the emergency area. very few hospital staff, and we met with the hospital leadership and found that the staff had mostly left. many of them have been displaced, so a previously 750—bed hospital is operating with about ten or ii of its normal staff. ten or 11 doctors and nurses and about 70 volunteers.

patients were streaming in every 30 to 60 seconds, with fresh injuries, and there were patients everywhere, all over the floors, on stretchers, on gurneys. it was almost difficult to walk around without stepping on somebody because there were people covering the floor. it is a hospital that is reallyjust getting restarted after a period of closure and it has become a shelter. there are thousands of people sheltering on site, and it is trying desperately to resume services. but it has challenges with power, staffing and with supplies. it is providing only the most minimal services at this point. what sort of injuries and medical issues did most of the people that you saw have? we saw children with open wounds on theirfaces. we saw a baby with jaundice. we saw many adults with injuries, from what appeared to be blast injuries, open wounds, fractures.

unfortunately the hospital has such limited staffing it is unable to provide care to a lot of those people, so even basic pain management is difficult, or impossible in many circumstances. we saw children holding iv fluid bags for their brothers and sisters and for their parents. we saw blood all over the floors. it looked almost like a battlefield hospital. it is just completely overwhelmed with a constant inflow of new patients, ambulances arriving constantly, people being brought in on donkey carts, on trolleys. we even had people walking alongside our vehicles, pushing patients on stretchers. it was hard to imagine. what sort of conversations were the doctors and those nurses, who are treating the many, many injured at the hospital, having with you?

they said they are overwhelmed. they said they need everything. we are constantly asked what the priorities are and it is a very challenging question, for a place like shifa, because they don't have fuel to run their generators, they don't have oxygen. they don't have medicines to care for the patients. they don't have staff to even clean wounds and provide basic pain management. they said that they need everything, and also, almost every single person who approached us asked us for food and water. there is a desperate need of everything. people are really hungry and thirsty. what the staff also said to us, which was really moving, is that they are committed to helping their people. they are going to stay, they want to reopen the hospital, they want help to do it and that is why we went yesterday, to provide surgical supplies, some basic medicines, some external fixators for traumatic injuries, and we are going back in the coming days with fuel, with additional medical supplies, and hopefully with staff to help support them. how much of a difference is that making? is thatjust a drop

in the ocean of their needs? so much of what we do feels like a drop in the ocean, given the scale of need here. gaza's health system is really on its knees, as we continuously say. about 22% of hospital beds are functioning, about 20% of primary care is functioning. here in rafah, where i am, there are approximately i million displaced persons. what we saw in gaza city was enormous destruction. it is hard to imagine the scale it needs. it does, in some cases, feel like a drop in the ocean, but we are only going to make progress if we keep moving forward. we provided some supplies yesterday. we are going to provide fuel, additional supplies, we are going to keep hammering away at the situation as much as we can. what we really need, quite frankly, is a ceasefire, so people can move safely, so that the injuries can stop, so people can stop being harmed, so they can access care, and health workers can get to the hospital.

we need peace. short of that we are going to continue to hammer away at this, providing the hospitals with what they need to be able to care for the many patients that are coming to them every day. sean casey speaking to us from inside gaza. there is more on that story and development is in the middle east on the bbc news website. here in the uk, after years of denials, the former conservative peer, baroness mone has admitted that she stands to benefit from tens of millions of pounds of profit made from personal protective equipment, that was sold to the government during the coronavirus pandemic. the company was led by her husband, doug barrowman. she says she did help broker the deal, but claims she was made a scapegoat for the government's failings. 0ur political correspondent laura kuenssberg has more. questions about the pandemic, profit and politics have followed baroness mone and her husband to southern europe. for years, they denied links to a firm that received £200 million in taxpayers' money for desperately

needed masks and gowns. only now the truth — that she does stand to gain. if one day, if, god forbid, my husband passes away before me, then i am a beneficiary as well as his children and my children. so, yes, of course. my family will benefit in due course. our family will benefit. that's what you do when you're in the privileged position of making money. a successful businesswoman and member of the lords, she didn't tell parliament she was helping broker a ppe contract. she now admits she didn't tell the truth when her links to the deal first emerged. you both denied it — why? we were simply listening to our advisers. hindsight�*s a wonderful thing. i wasn't trying to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. and i regret and i'm sorry for not saying straight out, "yes, i am involved". my family have gone through hell

with the media over my career and i didn't want another big hoo—ha in the press and my family to be involved in it. i don't honestly see there's a case to answer. i can't see what we've done wrong. doug and the consortium have simply delivered a contract — a delivery contract of goods. but after everything, you can't see what you've done wrong when you've admitted today that you lied to the press? that's not a crime. essentially, you lied to the public. laura, saying to the press that i'm not involved to protect my family, can ijust make this clear? it's not a crime. the company's being taken to court by the department of health. the pairare under criminal investigation. but the government wouldn't comment on the couple who only now want to have their say. laura kuenssberg, bbc news. here in the uk, we've been getting some political reaction to that interview.

0ur political correspondent tony bonsignore has more. we have had comments from the deputy prime minister, 0liver dowden. he appeared on the programme with laura kuenssberg. he wouldn't comment on that specific case. as laura said, there is a criminal investigation under way with the national crime agency, but also a civil claim from the department of health. he made some broader points. they included, he said, that he completely, and the government completely rejected any accusations of cronyism, said they had done their best in what was a very difficult and unique situation. he said that the government had been working very, very hard to try to claw back some of that money lost. the government's intention in respect of that, was to make sure that, if legitimate claims came forward, we would process them quickly. there were no favours or special treatment. everyone had ultimately the same

tests applied to them, and indeed, if it is the case where allegations of fraud and misconduct have occurred, there is either the civil or criminal, which you can see going on in respect of the interview you have just broadcast. in addition to that we set up the public sector fraud authority, already in its first year, has recovered double its initial target. labour have a very different take on this. they accuse the government of wasting billions of pounds of taxpayers' money. first, they say, through awarding these contracts in the first place, to companies who they say were only interested in making a quick profit. also, they say, through what they call a very casual approach to getting that money back. here is the shadow secretary, wes streeting. i think the government's response has been appalling. and the extent to which they've been able to claw money back has been pathetic.

and i think rishi sunak should take this personally and grip it. after all, it's his name on all of those cheques. he was the chancellor who was splashing the cash. labour say that if they do win the next general election next year, they will appoint a covid corruption commissioner to try to claw back as much money as possible, as quickly as possible. now it's time for a look at today's sport. let's get up to speed with the latest from the premier league. a big game to come later at anfield. but we're into the second half in the earlier kick offs. they are losing 1—0 at the moment. west ham are two nil up against wolves. later on though — attention switches to rivals liverpool against manchester united. two teams, in totally different places —

liverpool top of the table coming into the day... the manager wants to play down the occasion. if you take it all out of consideration and we just play a football game against the rival, the historical rival of liverpool fc at home at anfield, that in itself must make it a special game. that is what i want to see from us, a special game. really understand the situation and give your all, that is all i need. when i go to any game i have a strong belief that i am going to win. i will prepare the team in that way. that we are going to win. why? because it is based on our rules and principles in the game, and it is based on our game plan. and a strong belief in the quality of my players. an update to bring you on the luton town captain tom lockyer now — the defender collapsed in their game

at bournemouth on saturday — suffering a cardiac arrest. the club confirmed he was responsive when taken off the field. and in the last hour issued statement on social media saying he �*remains in hospital�* . and that they �*understand that supporters are concerned for him — and that there is widespread media interest in his condition.�*... tom is still undergoing tests and scans, and is awaiting the results before the next steps for his recovery are determined. matches across europe happening too — with third places ac milan beating monza 3—0 in the early game in serie a. later on 5th placed roma and bologna in 6th go head to head. and the evening game sees leaders inter, take on lazio — both teams making the knockouts of the champions league this week. nathan lyon has become just the 8th bowler to take 500 test wickets, with the spinner helping australia to a huge win over pakistan in the opening test in perth. lyon took two on the final day, as pakistan were bowled out forjust

89, giving australia a 360—run victory. the tourists are still waiting since 1995 to win a test in the country. next up is the boxing day test in melbourne. india cruised to an eight—wicket win over south africa in the first one dayer in johannesburg. arshdeep singh took 5 wickets to restrict south africa to 116 all out — their lowest 0di total at home. shreyas iyet and sai sudharsan both made fifties as india eased home inside 17 overs. the second of three 0dis takes place in qa—ber—ga on tuesday. leon edwards has retained his ufc welterweight title in las vegas, beating american colby covington. edwards cruised to victory, winning by unanimous decision, after going the 5 round distance. after the fight an emotional edwards criticised covington — who�*d made a crass comment about the briton�*s late father in the build—up. i don�*t get how he thought that was entertainment. i think my reaction to it

threw him off a bit. the fans turned against him and the media was like, what are you doing? he is a coward and he has always been a coward. south africa�*s louis 0osthuizen has claimed his second win in a week with a two—shot victory at the mauritius 0pen. a final round, three under par 69, was enough to see off the challenge of englishman laurie canter. it follows 0osthuizen�*s win at the alfred dunhill championship last monday. and that�*s all the sport for now. we will be back with more later on. thank you very much. before we close this half hour let�*s take you life to southern gaza, to khan younis. these are the live shots outside the nasa hospital. we hear that telecom services are being gradually restored in the central and southern areas of the gaza strip. it comes as communication and internet services were down in gaza since the 14th of december. we will be back after a short break. do stay with us here on bbc news.

hello there. good afternoon. with today�*s weather, pretty much a repeat performance of what we saw yesterday for many. but towards the south—east of england, there�*s a lot more blue sky and sunshine, such as here in canterbury, in kent. for dumfries and galloway, then we�*re seeing that heavy rain from north—west scotland just slip a little further southward. so turning really rather wet here for the rest of the afternoon. and we�*ve still got this very mild feed of air coming in on a brisk south—westerly wind, particularly blustery across north—east england, south—east scotland and also towards the irish sea coast with this constant stream of rain just feeding into western areas of scotland and the rainfall totals will really start to rack up. we�*ve already seen over 100 millimetres of rainfall in the highlands. we could see another 100 millimetres added on to that by the end of today. there�*s a met office amber weather warning in force too, valid until 6:00 this evening. again, we could see some landslips, possibly some transport disruption from a lot of heavy rain and that front just tends

to slide its way further southwards into northern ireland, perhaps cumbria and lancashire by the end of the afternoon. it is a lot drier further east, windy conditions of course, and to the lea of the high ground there will be some sunny spells. it�*s staying very mild for the time of year and as we head through the evening and overnight, again, our weather front just slips a little further southwards. it�*s starting to ease, but there will be some rain for a time over the welsh hills and over the midlands and northern england too. elsewhere it�*s largely dry. of course, it�*s a frost—free start to the day tomorrow, but it�*s now feeling a little cooler across northern areas of scotland. and here we should see lots of dry weather through monday morning, but we�*ll start to see some more areas of rain just approach the far north and west by the time we get to the end of the day. meanwhile, weather fronts further south will bring some heavy rain across western wales and possibly into northern england as well. so, the far south—west of england, but some sunshine across northern ireland and eastern scotland. temperatures again still very mild, 11—13 degrees, well above the seasonal average. now, on tuesday, the focus

for the heavy rain is going to be across england and wales, particularly towards the south. this heavy rain will take much of the day to clear, you�*ll notice more of a north—westerly wind and some showers just feeding into the north—west of scotland, too. some of those showers could turn out to be wintry, perhaps, particularly over the hills. here�*s the outlook for some of our cities as we head through the rest of the week. colder in the north. still mild in the south. bye— bye!

this is bbc news, the headlines... in a change of tone, the uk and germany havejointly called for a "sustainable ceasefire" in gaza. but prime minister benjamin netanyahu has reiterated his opposition to a ceasefire, saying israel will "fight to the end" to eliminate hamas. the world health organisation describes the emergency department of gaza�*s al shifa hospital as a "bloodbath" after delivering crucial medical supplies. former conservative peer baroness mone admits she stands to benefit from millions of pounds of profit from protective equpment sold to the government during the covid—19 pandemic. i will be representing the uk at the eurovision song contest to top... pop star and actor 0lly alexander is announced as the united kingdom�*s entry for next year�*s eurovision song contest. listen to those cheers!

we brought you an interview earlier with former conservative peer baroness mone, who has admitted that she stands to benefit from tens of millions of pounds of profit made from personal protective equipment that was sold to the government during the coronavirus pandemic. the company was led by her husband, doug barrowman. baroness mone says she did help broker the deal, but claims she has been made a scapegoat for the government s failings. here is laura kuenssberg�*s exclusive interview with baroness mone and doug barrowman in full now. there was a call to arms forall lords, baronesses, mps, senior civil servants to help because they needed massive quantities of ppe. given the fact that i�*ve got 25 years manufacturing experience, i looked at doug and i thought, "we can really, really help here." ijust know all the key players in the far east. and i made the call to michael gove. what did you say to him?

ijust said, "we can help, and we want to help." he was like, "oh, my goodness, this is amazing." so we entered into discussions, ppe medpro, myself, i led the consortium, i had two other partners. but you had vip access. you had a cabinet minister on speed dial you could phone up and say, "i think i can make this happen, can you put me in touch with the right people?" yeah, well, that�*s what we were asked to do. but what i think the public think is we�*re trying to keep it a secret that i was involved. everyone in dhse, nhs, the cabinet office, the government knew of my involvement. they asked us to both declare our interest. did you tell the house of lords authorities? i discussed that with the cabinet office and they said, "we just need you to put it in writing and declare your interest "with us, that�*s all." and mine as well. but the house of lords

rules say that members have a clear duty to provide information which might reasonably be thought by others to influence their actions. because there is a question of perception here too. and in fact the rules also say that sometimes registration of a spouse or a partner�*s interests is also required. as far as i was aware, if you are not a director, not a shareholder, not financially benefiting, then that is exactly what i did. if i was told by the cabinet office, "no, you actually need to do this," i would have done it straightaway. i am a business guy, so i think like an entrepreneur. i don't know the parliamentary rule book. they must have been satisfied in the end to have awarded the contracts. if they were not satisfied, they should never have awarded us the contracts. they should have said, "there is a perceived conflict here." but what is also clear is the parliamentary rules are clear that members of the house of lords or members of the house of commons, if they have a financial interest or a perceived conflict of interest,

which you mentioned, doug, the responsibility is on them. it was on you to tell parliament. do you wish you had? if i knew i had to... the cabinet office advised me only to do this. by your own admission, though, and for the reasons you set out, you say you wanted to help, but you used your contact with government ministers to help broker a commercial deal for a company that was to bring tens and tens of millions of pounds of profit... yeah. ..for your husband, for yourfamily, and you didn�*t tell the authorities in parliament. to a lot of our viewers watching, that might sound like you were trading on your title and not following the rules, not declaring it all. no, no, absolutely not. i was just acting the same way as every other baroness, lord, who also put names forwards. there was lots of us. and how much were you paid and how much of it was profit? so, the two contracts in total came

to a value of £202 million. and medpro made a return on its investment of about, realistically, 30%. so, about £60 million? yeah, about that. making a profit of £60 million during a national emergency, like a pandemic? sounds notjust like an enormous amount of cash, but also a bit like profiteering. well, ppe prices during the pandemic went up five times and a lot of our competitors were charging, as i said before, on the gowns front, between £7 and £12 a gown. at the very start of the pandemic, the government paid, actually, numbers way in excess of that. we cut out most of the middle people and we dealt direct with the manufacturer.

so, you say you saved the government a lot of money, but you also made a lot of money? nothing wrong with making money, but that is what happened, right? we made a good return for the risk involved, and the risk was considerable. but when it became public that you were connected to the company, you both denied it. why? i wasn�*t trying to pull the wool over anyone�*s eyes and i regret and i�*m sorry for not saying straight out, "yes, i am involved." because dhse, the nhs, the cabinet office, they all knew of my involvement, but i didn�*t want the press intrusion for my family. my family have gone through hell with the media over my career and i didn�*t want another big hoo—ha in the press. over a period of months, you said again and again that you had no connection and your lawyers even said to some journalists it would be defamatory, they would be libelling you, if they told the truth. you if they told the truth.

you know, thisjust wasn�*t a slip—up. yeah. you didn�*t tell the truth for months on end. i think if we were to say of anything that we have done, we�*ve done a lot of good, but if we were to say anything we have done that we are sorry for, and that is not to, we should have told the press straight up, straightaway, nothing to hide. and again, i�*m sorry for that. but i wasn�*t trying to pull the wool over anyone�*s eyes. no—one. but that�*s exactly what you were trying to do. you had lawyers working for both of you telling people, telling the public that you had nothing to do with the company and saying it would have been a libel to suggest you were. yeah, it is something we regret doing and we listened to our advisers. what happened then to the money, the profit you have alluded to, around about £60 million? so, i led the consortium. at the end of the day, i am an isle of man resident,

the money comes to the isle of man, that's fundamentally where i live, it goes on my tax return, and like all my sources of income that i have generated over many years, it goes into trust for the benefit of my family. was any of it used to buy a yacht? no, no. used to buy a what, sorry? a yacht. a yacht? it�*s not my yacht, it�*s not my money. i don�*t have that money and my kids don�*t have that money and my children, my family have gone through so much pain because of the media, they have not got £29 million. this money from ppe medpro, as i understand it, went into two trusts. one of those trusts, the beneficiaries of that trust, where half of the profit went, are you and your children. yes. and doug�*s children too. for the benefit of all my family. i am his wife, so i am a beneficiary, as well as his

children, as well as my children. you have said repeatedly you didn�*t financially benefit from this deal. except it is just a matter of time before you benefit. it is my income, it is taxed on my tax return, and actually, if i die, one day in the future, she is going to directly benefit. as a family, you are benefiting from those tens of millions of pounds, whether it is today or in ten years, 20 years, 30 years, for most people watching this, you did a deal with the government to provide more than £200 million worth of ppe and your family has made tens of millions of pounds from it. no, my family hasn�*t, laura, made tens of millions of pounds. god forbid if my husband decides to divorce me after this show! not an option. and takes me out of his letter of wishes, i take my husband out of my will,

if we, god forbid, get divorced, i don�*t benefit. it�*s my husband�*s money. it�*s his money. it�*s not my money, and it�*s not my children�*s money. michelle has no access to that money. michelle has no discretion over that money. unless i wanted to give everything away to strangers or to charity or whatever, she was always going to benefit, and my family will benefit in due course. her family benefit, my family benefit. that's what you do when you're in the privileged position of making money. we�*re not talking here about someone getting a christmas bonus and saying, "oh, i�*m not going to give it "to my wife now, i�*m going to put it in the bank and surprise her later "on with a lovely family holiday," or "i�*m going "to hold that money back "because maybe one day we might be able to save a deposit for a kid�*s flat further down the line." sure. you�*ve both admitted today that you will, in time, benefit financially from that cash. yourfamily, as a unit, will benefit from that cash. why didn�*t you just be more straightforward about it?

i am being straightforward about it now, laura. i�*m saying to you that i didn�*t receive that cash. that cash is not my cash. that cash is my husband�*s cash. but do you admit... it�*sjust like my mum and my dad going home with his wage packet on a friday night and giving it to my mum, so she�*s, you know, benefiting from that as well. but that cash is not my cash, it�*s not my children�*s cash, as the press and the attacks keep going on. do you admit today that, with the way that you�*ve currently got your finances set up, that one day you and your children will benefit from that money? because you right now are listed as the beneficiaries of that trust. if one day, if, god forbid, my husband passes away before me, then i am a beneficiary, as well as his children and my children. so, yes, of course. how would you describe the government�*s overall handling

of trying to get ppe during that crisis, from what you saw? the reason why doug and i are sitting here is because we�*ve been their scapegoats, and they have destroyed our lives for over two years because it suited them, the narrative suits them to attack us the way they have done. and the pain that�*s caused on ourfamily, and over, i think the attacks, they go up all the time. over 700 threats, you know, "i�*m going to throw acid over you," "i�*m going to burn your house down." and the hatred, we've been absolutely vilified.- and, you know, we�*ve onlyjust... we�*ve done that one thing, which was lie to the press, to say we weren�*t involved. no—one deserves this. so, doug, let�*s then take you to a time when, as far as you�*re concerned, contracts have happened, the deliveries have taken place.

the department of health then gets in touch, says something�*s gone wrong. they try to claw back money. tell us what then happened. our view is we supplied everything on time to specification and at competitive prices. we get to november 2022, and i attend this negotiation, as opposed to a mediation, and this individual asked me, would i pay more for the other matter to go away? i was speechless. i didn't quite understand what he meant by that, because the only other matter on the table was the nca investigation, which had commenced, as far as we were aware, in april 2022. i was absolutely gobsmacked. i'm clear in my mind what he was saying. he was asking me if i would pay more money for the nca investigation to be called off. that�*s an extraordinarily

serious allegation to make. if that�*s what you believed was happening, why didn�*t you go to the police at that point? if you believed a senior government official was trying to bribe you to make a criminal investigation go away, why didn�*t you report it to the police then? i take the advice of my legal team, and the legal team, at that point in time, suggested that we park that one for now. you�*ve told us very candidly today, you led the consortium, you did the deal, and yet when you look up, at companies house, which is where everything is meant to be registered in a normal way, you�*re nowhere to be seen. in... in terms of my appointments, they're all handled by the people in my family office, that's just normal practice and has been that way forever. i think some of our viewers, though, might feel there�*s a bit of a pattern.

you know, at the beginning of this, the rules of the lords say that your interests should be declared. you didn�*t, because you say the cabinet office told you not to. when it first emerged that you were behind ppe medpro, you didn�*t tell the truth about that. doug, you led this consortium, you�*ve made tens of millions of pounds out of it for your family, but your name�*s nowhere to be found on companies house when it comes to the business. and, michelle, you�*ve said repeatedly you didn�*t benefit financially, except you�*ve also admitted today that, in time, your families may well benefit from huge amounts of money. there�*s a pattern here of time and again trying to hide what really happened. i'm not here today to defend my record on why i am a private person and don't want anyone in the press to know of any business activity or anything i get engaged in. but, michelle, it does feel like the truth has had to be dragged out here. not really, laura... no?

..because the only thing i would say to you is the only error that i have made is to say to the press that i wasn�*t involved. but you repeatedly didn�*t tell the truth. whether it�*s the money, whether it�*s your involvement, whether it�*s whether you had to tell parliament. it�*s a smoke screen. that�*s why we�*re here today, doing an interview... but do you see why people listening might feel that? that�*s why we�*re explaining to people. what do you hope that 2024 will bring for you, legally, for your reputations and for you personally? i don�*t honestly see there�*s a case to answer. i can�*t see what we�*ve done wrong. doug and the consortium have simply delivered a contract, a delivery contract of goods. but after everything, you can�*t see what you�*ve done wrong? when you�*ve admitted today that

you lied to the press... that�*s not a crime. ..and, by extension, you lied to the public? saying to the press i�*m not involved to protect my family, can ijust make this clear? it�*s not a crime. the press have got nothing to do with my family. i was protecting my family. and i think people will realise that, and the press attacks that i have gone through, since i walked into the house of lords... i was a very successful individual businesswoman, and since i walked into the house of lords, it�*s been a nightmare for my family. so, that�*s not a crime, to say to the press... ..to tell, you know, the press what i did. that�*s not a crime. inaudible

announcement was made during the final of strictly come dancing. it�*s one of the world�*s biggest tv contests. we�*re talking the eurovision song contest. well, the united kingdom has revealed that the pop star and award—winning actor 0lly alexander will represent the country at next year�*s contest in sweden. the surprise announcement was made during the final of strictly come dancing. well, our music correspondent, mark savage, sat down with 0lly alexander to get his reaction to the news being made public. ifeel like it is a bit like a spiritual homecoming for me, because i love eurovision so much. ifeel like i don�*t know... i feel excited to be part of it now. it�*s such a celebration ofjoy and fun. i love how the theatrics, the drama — there is such amazing chaos of a mixture of musical styles, all these different performers. you get so much on one night, it�*s so fun. and camp. the whole thing — you can get on the stage in that short amount of time. that quick turnaround. how you can wow everybody. you only have a certain amount of time, a certain amount of people.

what is he going to look like, what are you going to do? so, yeah, i�*m thinking more about it now. you haven�*t announced this song yet. is there anything you can tell us? the song... i wrote the song with danny l harle and it will be coming soon, next year. and it�*s really good. i should apologise, we had a bit of a microphone malfunction as i was introducing that. if that was, of course, the pop star and award—winning actor, 0lly alexander. he will be represented in the united kingdom at next year�*s eurovision song contest in sweden. that announcement came as a sub prize and was on strictly on saturday night. let�*s get more on this with james rowe, who is the presenter of the euro trip podcast. it's it�*s good to talk to you. your reaction to the news — is 0lly a good choice? i think it is a huge surprise and i think it was for anybody was watching strictly last night because for the bbc in the uk, we usually have to wait until about february or march to get first of all an idea of who it is going to be and then what the song is going to be, so to go to

or three months earlier was a huge surprise and 0lly himself, there has been a bit of a room up for the last few years, i must admit, but no one really thought it was ever going to happen with him being such a household name here in the uk, so overall a huge surprise. what about the way in which it was revealed, during the strictly final? yes, one the biggest tv viewing figures of the year, it has to be has said, especially for the bbc. we usually might get on radio 1 or radio two, which obviously might get a good view business, but to put it on prime—time tv as a big surprise on prime—time tv as a big surprise on the biggest show of the year came totally out of the blue. most people are settling in to find out who�*s going to win and then we got this bonus announcement as well! trier? bonus announcement as well! very excitina. bonus announcement as well! very exciting- i'm _ bonus announcement as well! very exciting. i'm not— bonus announcement as well! very exciting. i'm not as _ bonus announcement as well! very exciting. i'm not as much - bonus announcement as well! very exciting. i'm not as much of - bonus announcement as well! very exciting. i'm not as much of an exciting. i�*m not as much of an expert is you, so i�*m going to ask you this question. the uk is normally one of the last countries to announce its entry.

what�*s brought about this change, do you think? know, usually as i say we get announcement in february or march, i was doing some research last night because one of the announcement was in august in 1992 for the 1993 competition, but usually as i say we have to wait until the new year, so like i keep saying, the big word really is just surprise because it wasn�*t expected, but to be honest i think the news has gone down very, very well, it is a happy surprise, rather than a —1. very well, it is a happy surprise, rather than a -1._ rather than a -1. yes, the thing about this _ rather than a -1. yes, the thing about this particular _ rather than a -1. yes, the thing about this particular entry, - rather than a -1. yes, the thing about this particular entry, we | about this particular entry, we honestly don�*t know what 0lly is going to sing, we don�*t know any more, but he is a big name already. sometimes in eurovision years you have nonentities who represent and thatis have nonentities who represent and that is how they become known on the national or indeed the european stage. what do you think about the profile 0lly brings to this, given that he was in years and years? yes. that he was in years and years? yes, he has a huge — that he was in years and years? yes, he has a huge profile, _ that he was in years and years? yes, he has a huge profile, a _ that he was in years and years? 1913

he has a huge profile, a household name, whether that is from singing or because it is singing, but i think that shows confidence, that he is such a cute profile, and to get them on board early shows a huge amount of confidence in him because to go on stage and perform music in a competition requires a lot of bottle effectively, so for him to effectively put his reputation on the line, which it is, for a lot of musicians it is a gamble to do eurovision, but he clearly loves it, he has got a great songwriter as we heard there, who has written for the likes of dewar leeper with her latest single, so between him and the songwriter and all this confidence from the bbc, i think we�*re going to expect a huge package come in the next year. we we're going to expect a huge package come in the next year.— come in the next year. we only have about 15 seconds, _ come in the next year. we only have about 15 seconds, but _ come in the next year. we only have about 15 seconds, but i _ come in the next year. we only have about 15 seconds, but i will- come in the next year. we only have about 15 seconds, but i will ask - about 15 seconds, but i will ask you, what sort of genre do you think you�*ll be taking to the contest? well, he said it is not a valid, so i think we will get a high tempo pop

song, which everyone will love. indeed. thank you very much, but was james rowe from the the euro trip pod cast. taking us through the recent announcement of our entrant in the uk into the eurovision song contest. british teenager alex batty, who was found in france after being missing for six years, has returned to the uk. alex vanished with his mother and grandfather in 2017 while they were on holiday in spain. his mother was not his legal guardian and police are yet to decide whether there will be a criminal investigation. alex was found on wednesday by a motorist, who spotted him on a road in the foothills of the french pyrenees. 0ur reporter gerryjackson reports from 0ldham, where the family are from. to recap this extraordinary story so far, in 2017, the then 11—year—old alex batty travelled on holiday to spain with his mother and grandfather and effectively disappeared. since then, it appeared the three of them have been living what�*s been described as "an itinerant, alternative lifestyle," with alex not attending school and the three of them moving

between spain, morocco and later south—west france. it wasn�*t until alex�*s mother, who isn�*t his legal guardian, told him they were going to move to finland that alex decided he wanted to leave. having spent around four nights trekking alone through the foothills of the french pyrenees, he was picked up by a local motorist, who took him to the police. now, he used that driver�*s phone to contact his grandmother here in 0ldham and told her he wanted to come home. the french authorities described him as "a composed and intelligent "young man who was tired, but otherwise well." police officers from greater manchester, together with alex�*s step—grandfather, met him yesterday at toulouse airport in france and, having announced his return to the media late last night, the police here say they�*re yet to fully establish the circumstances of his disappearance. they will, after all, have plenty to talk to him about, including, perhaps, the current

whereabouts of his mother. but they also reminded everyone that he is still a teenager and they�*re very focused on his and his family�*s well—being. the vast majority of us may never have known or recognise the name alex batty until a few days ago, but he is a british young person who, at 17, has spent more than a third of his life off the radar of the british authorities. he�*s now safely home in the uk — in the words of the police, "where he wants to be." we will of course stay on that story about alex batty�*s return home, but before we go let�*s take you back to the scene live in southern gaza. this is khan younis in the south, this is the nasser hospital. it comes on the day humanitarian aid trucks have entered gaza through israel�*s crossing since the first time for the first time since the war began. stay with us here on bbc news.

i will be back in a few moments. hello there. good afternoon. with today�*s weather, pretty much a repeat performance of what we saw yesterday for many. but towards the south—east of england, there�*s a lot more blue sky and sunshine, such as here in canterbury, in kent. for dumfries and galloway, then we�*re seeing that heavy rain from north—west scotland just slip a little further southward. so turning really rather wet here for the rest of the afternoon. and we�*ve still got this very mild feed of air coming in on a brisk south—westerly wind, particularly blustery across north—east england, south—east scotland and also towards the irish sea coast with this constant stream of rain just feeding into western areas of scotland and the rainfall totals will really start to rack up. we�*ve already seen over 100 millimetres of rainfall in the highlands. we could see another 100 millimetres added on to that by the end of today. there�*s a met office amber weather warning in force too, valid until 6:00 this evening. again, we could see some landslips, possibly some transport disruption from a lot of heavy rain and that front just tends

to slide its way further southwards into northern ireland, perhaps cumbria and lancashire by the end of the afternoon. it is a lot drier further east, windy conditions of course, and to the lea of the high ground there will be some sunny spells. it�*s staying very mild for the time of year and as we head through the evening and overnight, again, our weather front just slips a little further southwards. it�*s starting to ease, but there will be some rain for a time over the welsh hills and over the midlands and northern england too. elsewhere it�*s largely dry. of course, it�*s a frost—free start to the day tomorrow, but it�*s now feeling a little cooler across northern areas of scotland. and here we should see lots of dry weather through monday morning, but we�*ll start to see some more areas of rain just approach the far north and west by the time we get to the end of the day. meanwhile, weather fronts further south will bring some heavy rain across western wales and possibly into northern england as well. so, the far south—west of england, but some sunshine across northern ireland and eastern scotland. temperatures again still very mild, 11—13 degrees, well above the seasonal average. now, on tuesday, the focus for the heavy rain is going to be across england and wales, particularly towards the south.

this heavy rain will take much of the day to clear, you�*ll notice more of a north—westerly wind and some showers just feeding into the north—west of scotland, too. some of those showers could turn out to be wintry, perhaps, particularly over the hills. here�*s the outlook for some of our cities as we head through the rest of the week. colder in the north. still mild in the south. bye— bye!

live from london. this is bbc news. the uk and germany issue a joint call for a "sustainable ceasefire" in gaza, but prime minister netanyahu insists israel will "fight to the end" to eliminate hamas. the world health organization describes the emergency department of gaza�*s al shifa hospital as a "bloodbath" — after delivering crucial medical supplies. we saw children with open wounds on their faces. we saw a baby with jaundice. we saw many adults with injuries from what appeared to be blast injuries. former conservative peer baroness mone admits she stands to benefit from £60 million of profit from personal protective equipment sold to the government during the pandemic. i wasn�*t trying to pull the wool over anyone�*s eyes, and i regret, and i am sorry, for not saying straight out, yes i am involved.